Asian Games: Asia's biggest multisport event opens in Indonesia
The eighteenth edition of the Asian Games, running through Sept. 2, will be an important proving ground for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, a chance for Indonesia to show it can host a major sporting event and a special occasion for North Korea and South Korea to demonstrate their détente, KYODO NEWS reports.
Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who runs for a second term next April, declared the games open in a ceremony at Jakarta's Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.
"We, the nations of Asia, want to show that we are tied in brotherhood," Jokowi said. "We are united and want to make achievements."
The ceremony, with plenty of fireworks, came a day after the world's fourth most populous country with more than 300 ethnic groups and 17,000 islands, extending along the equator as far as 5,000 kilometers, marked the 73rd anniversary of its independence.
Symbolizing the Southeast Asian country's rich geographical features, a gigantic greenery mountain and running waterfall built by local artists was set up behind where popular Indonesian musicians and singers took the stage and performed shows reflecting the diversity of its culture along with thousands of dancers.
Following the ceremony, athletes from 45 countries and regions will vie in 465 events including non-Olympic disciplines such as kabaddi, sepak takraw and wushu.
Nearly 40,000 troops and police officers will be deployed at all venues of the 16-day sports spectacular to ensure security and prevent potential terrorist attacks, Indonesia's national police chief Tito Karnavian told a press conference hours before the ceremony.It is the second time since 1962 that Indonesia has hosted the games, the world's largest multisport event after the Olympics.
"As an Indonesian, I am proud because it rarely happens here," said Tono Siswandjava, a 61-year-old businessman from Bandung, the capital of the country's West Java provincial capital. "In 1962, I was still a kid and could not really feel the atmosphere."
"Fifty years from now, I may have already died. So, this is a very rare opportunity and I don't want to miss it," he said.
All 32 Tokyo Olympics sports, with the lone exception of surfing, will be contested in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, the provincial capital of South Sumatra. Those include skateboarding and sport climbing, which are among five new categories added to the program for Tokyo 2020.
Esports, or competitive video gaming, will also make its debut at the quadrennial games as a demonstration sport before it becomes a medal event in 2022.
